Yes, Cravings are Real

Whenever we'd play the card game "Bullshit" my grandmother would always refuse to say that and call it "I doubt it." One of the awesome things I'll always remember about her. That, and the fact that she would let my cousin Kasie & I have homemade milkshakes before dinner. Grandma's are cool like that.

Whenever pregnant women would talk about their cravings, I always thought it was bullshit. I mean... I doubted it. I'm a big "gotta see it to believe it" kinda gal and my parents taught me to be skeptical about everything. I must say, it's served me well. Naturally, I thought the whole "craving" thing was an excuse for pregnant women to eat whatever they wanted.

It is so not an excuse.

Cravings are real, homie!

At about 6 weeks in, my nausea kicked in. I can't really complain about it because I was still eating a lot and it came & went throughout the day. It hit me hardest when it came time to do grocery shopping, when co-workers were heating up food in the break room and when I had to handle raw meat to prepare dinner. (My wonderful husband did that for me for a few weeks, thank goodness). For the next 3 weeks, what I wanted to eat at any given time was so ridiculously specific, it blew my mind. Dinner for me some nights was half a ball of fresh mozzarella cheese, a handful of stuffed olives, something really garlicky & lemon water. So random. However, I was glad I was eating and not barfing.

Then things got weirder.

I wanted peanut butter. ALL.THE.TIME.

I would sit at my desk at work (hoping no one would walk in my office) and eat peanut butter right out of the jar with a spoon. I must have gone through 3 jars in 3 weeks.

[My fav PB]

Sour gummy worms, starbursts, oreos, peanut butter ripple ice cream, lots of carbs, hot dogs, and basically anything else I hadn't eaten in 5 years.

We were on our way to Best Buy in DE one day and we passed Jimmy John's (this amazing hot dog place that's famous in our town) and all I could think about for the next hour or so was eating a Jimmy John's hot dog with sauerkraut. It consumed my every thought.

[Yes, we stopped & I got my hot dog :-)]

Forget grocery shopping with a list. I followed my nose. Either I wanted something SO BAD or it made me want to vomit.  And then after week 9, this crazyness slowly ended and I got back on track with my usual diet. I must admit, it was fun while it lasted.

I now understand why Natalie Portman gave up on Veganism during her pregnancy.